active citizenship essay

Active citizenship: What it means and what it takes

Developing active citizenship is key to empowering communities in a democracy. here's how nonprofits can use constitutional values to cultivate and nurture engaged citizens..

These active citizens have played a vital role in making our communities better. They are critical for the functioning of a democracy, as they recognise the gap between what should be and what is, and work to bridge this gap using the Constitution as a guide. In this article, we explore what active citizenship looks like in practice and what it means to take action based on constitutional values.

What makes one an active citizen?

Bryony Hoskins, who has worked extensively on active citizenship, loosely defines active citizens as those who engage in a “ broad range of activities that promote and sustain democracy ”. Unpacking this definition points to two aspects:

1. Active citizens undertake initiatives that strengthen a democracy. Depending on the context, this could include community development, social service, voicing opinions, participating in gram sabhas or city councils, voting, petitioning, campaigning for elections, protesting, and other such endeavours. Active citizens must base these activities on certain values and principles—such as freedom of choice, equal voice and participation, and respect for others and for the law—that are essential for a democracy. In the case of India, these fundamental values are enshrined in our Constitution.

2. Developing active citizenship is not an automatic process—it is learned and practised over time. The process to become an active citizen involves debate and dialogue and recognising and resolving conflicts.

Take the example of Rohini Chhari, a social worker from a small village in Madhya Pradesh. When the public cremation ground in her village did not allow the cremation of a person belonging to a Dalit caste, it sparked intense friction among the different communities residing there. Rohini, who herself belongs to a marginalised community, intervened and demanded action from the sarpanch; he then ensured that the cremation is performed in the public ground.

Rohini, however, did not stop there. She realised that unequal access to the public cremation ground was an ongoing conflict that required a more sustainable solution. Thus, she called for a meeting between communities and facilitated a dialogue. While the concerns and opinions of all sides were discussed, she brought attention to the discrimination that was being practised. Rohini invoked the values of equality, dignity, and fraternity that are enshrined in the Indian Constitution, and also talked about Article 15 , which prohibits caste-based discrimination. Further, she informed everyone that caste-based discrimination was an offence under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 . These discussions finally led to the decision that the cremation ground would be shared by all communities.

Rohini advocated for community action by linking it to the constitutional values of equality and dignity. She cited legal provisions upholding these values, actively engaged with community members including the sarpanch, and championed citizens’ rights and responsibilities. Through these efforts, she emerged as a vital force for democracy and development in her community.

The role of community-based nonprofits

As facilitators of social change and by virtue of working at the grassroots, community-based nonprofits are critical for developing active citizenship. They work closely with citizens, often with those from marginalised communities, to resolve issues that they face every day—discrimination, governance failures, and problems of inaccessibility, inequity, and injustice. By their very nature, community-based nonprofits exist to secure the values embedded in our Constitution.

By their very nature, community-based nonprofits exist to secure the values embedded in our Constitution.

At We, The People Abhiyan , we have been working with several nonprofits to enable them to incorporate an active citizenship lens in their work. One of these is Synergy Sansthan , an organisation that initially advocated for the rights of Adivasi youth in Harda, Madhya Pradesh. Their leadership team underwent immersive training to deepen their understanding of the Constitution and active citizenship. The process helped them realise that young people, across various communities, may be subjected to several levels of injustice. Therefore, focusing only on Adivasi youth would not factor in the intersectional injustices that, say, may be common to an Adivasi youth and a young person belonging to a scheduled caste. By applying a constitutional values lens to understand the root causes, young people from different communities can come together and examine structural inequality and discrimination from a wider ambit. Thus, Synergy Sansthan’s emphasis on active citizenship in their programmes expanded to address the concerns of all young people in the region.

PRADAN , a nonprofit organisation dedicated to enhancing rural women’s livelihoods, has recognised the necessity to empower women leaders who work with self-help groups (SHGs) with tools for active citizenship. We conducted several capacity-building programmes with them to improve women leaders’ understanding of constitutional values, rights, and laws. Before the training sessions, although the women met once a week to identify and discuss community issues, they saw PRADAN as the channel through which these issues would be addressed. The key difference after the training was that the women started seeing themselves as capable of resolving some of these issues—for example, widow pensions and access to rations and drinking water, which they also came to view as rights—by connecting with the state authorities. These leaders gained confidence from actively engaging with local self-government institutions and participating assertively in gram sabhas, which led to them influencing development in their communities. Increasingly, there is active discussion within SHGs on how members themselves practise these constitutional values and how they can do more to address the difficulties faced by the most marginalised among them.

Challenges nonprofits face in incorporating active citizenship in their work

From the above examples, it is evident that by incorporating an active citizenship lens to their work, nonprofits can enable people to take ownership of the vital role they must play in a democracy, participate in governance processes, and take steps to solve problems using the powerful values and framework defined by our Constitution. However, this may not be possible for all nonprofits to achieve. Here’s why:

1. There is a need to resolve urgent issues that communities face in terms of health, education, and livelihoods. In many cases, such as when the government does not respond or its response is inadequate, nonprofits become the sole recourse for communities in fulfilling their requirements. Organisations may not prioritise focusing on underlying values such as equality and justice, because tackling immediate challenges can be a lifelong process in itself.

2. Limited resources are another reason why nonprofits tend to concentrate on immediate issues at hand and may not be able to give attention to broader, longer-term needs. A sharp focus on fulfilling particular needs quickly and efficiently may also lead to viewing communities as ‘beneficiaries’ of services, rather than as citizens who rightfully deserve access to quality services from the state. Therefore, nonprofits tend to build capacities and provide training directly related to the issues they are working on, rather than prioritising the development of active citizenship through their programmes.

3. Getting engaged in long-term strategic issues can sometimes become a challenge for nonprofits as they find it difficult to secure funding partners for such endeavours.

Strategies for nonprofits to promote active citizenship

Based on our work with several nonprofits, here are some simple steps we have identified that nonprofits can take to start incorporating active citizenship in their work with communities:

1. Display copies of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution in the head office, field offices, and community centres, preferably alongside the vision and values statements of the organisation. The Preamble can serve as a tool to facilitate discussions on different constitutional values and to examine the connections between the vision and values of the nation and those of the organisation. This offers organisation members and the communities they work with a point of reference that they can look to when handling any issues of inequality, injustice, or oppression. Such an approach ensures that, even while dealing with the immediate issue at hand, they are consistently mindful of the root cause of the problem.

2. Use copies of the Preamble in community meetings to discuss the roles and responsibilities of citizens. Pose questions such as: What kind of society are we hoping to build? What is expected of each of us and of state authorities? What are the values that should guide both citizens and the state? This can help them realise their own stake, articulate a common vision, and take ownership of working towards it.

3. Encourage community members to actively participate in gram sabha and ward-level meetings, as well as other platforms of local self-government. These assemblies serve as forums for local governance where citizens can actively engage in decision-making processes and connect the concepts of active citizenship taught in workshops with practice. By participating in these conversations, people are empowered and contribute to shaping policies and initiatives that directly impact their communities.

4. Incorporate foundational training on constitutional values and framework (including rights, directive principles, the role of the state, and the law) into the internal team’s training processes. This will help embed a constitutional values lens into any programme the team undertakes and approaches.

As the Indian Constitution enters its 75th year, it is imperative for citizens to embrace their roles as vital forces of development. Community-based nonprofits should acknowledge the valuable role they play in nurturing citizens on this transformative journey.

• Learn more about how children perceive the idea of citizenship in an equitable country.
• Read this article to learn about the decline of the country’s democratic values.
• Know more about people-led initiatives that have furthered constitutional literacy.
• Join the national campaign Har Dil Mein Samvidhan.

In 1949, when India’s Constitution came into being, it articulated a vision of a society that secures and promotes the core human values of equality, fraternity, justice, and liberty among…

Vinita Gursahani Singh is the managing trustee at We, The People Abhiyan . She has worked in the social development sector for the last 28 years, mainly in the areas of livelihoods, human rights, and active citizenship. Vinita focuses on building people’s capacities by empowering them with skills, knowledge, and attitudes to find solutions to the issues they face.

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

What Does It Mean to Be an Engaged Citizen?

This year’s Independence Day marks the 243rd birthday of the United States—a country that today has a population of around 330 million people from all walks of life.

Our growing diversity, combined with an increasingly polarized politics, challenges us to imagine what a modern American civic identity looks like. America is not the same country it was decades ago, so it makes sense that our view of what it means to be a citizen in today’s America would evolve, as well.

Eric Liu is a prolific author, civic activist, and former Clinton administration official who founded the organization Citizen University (CU) in 2012 to help reinvigorate Americans’ sense of civic identity. CU does not define the term “citizen” by legal status—it is a wider conception of Americanness that encompasses everyone who lives in the United States.

CU promotes civic identity with a slate of programs such as Civic Saturday . During these events, community members gather for 90 minutes of discussion and activities, including civic sermons designed to make them think about how to be engaged citizens.

Greater Good ’s Bridging Differences Writing Fellow, Zaid Jilani, spoke with Liu about his new book, Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy , which is based off some of the civic sermons Liu has delivered. In our interview, Liu discussed how we can improve our civic life in America and engage productively across our political differences, as he did with right-wing radio host Glenn Beck, and what it means to be an American.

Zaid Jilani: American civic life is under stress—people don’t feel like they’re part of the same communities, they don’t feel like they can engage civilly in discussing political and social issues. What are the big stressors that are challenging our civic community and our civic ethos that Citizen University is addressing? 
 


Eric Liu: One is . . . the profound level of income inequality and wealth concentration in the United States right now. When you get this degree of clumping, hoarding, and inequality and concentration of not just wealth but of voice and opportunity and self-reinforcing opportunity to participate, you begin to cut away at the very foundation of the idea of equal citizenship. It’s really hard to sustain a notion of equal justice and equality under the law when conditions are this unequal and where inequality is self-reinforcing.

A second great stressor is that we’re undergoing a tectonic demographic shift right now. So the question ‘Who is us?,’ which has always been a central American question, has never been more salient than it is today. People are realizing that whiteness is no longer the default setting for Americanness.

There’s great opportunity in that but also great dislocation. And the opportunity and challenge that we all have right now is how to articulate a new narrative of “us” that can reflect our great diversity and give us a basis for unity. So our work at Citizen University really tries to address both of these stressors.

The point of American life is to generate hybrids of culture, of cuisine, of bloodlines, of musical styles, of approaches to problem solving, whatever it may be. A lot of our work at Citizen University . . . is about trying to encourage people to . . . mix and not match—to mix and scramble their sources of friendship, their sources of reading, their sources of inspiration in ways that can generate new hybrids.



ZJ: A lot of people have different conceptions of what it means to be a civic-minded person. What does being an American in 2019 mean, particularly in a diverse country with as many cleavages as this one?

EL: Our work is about a notion of citizenship that is broader than documentation status—it’s a deeper, more capacious ethical notion of being a member of a body, a participant in and contributor to community. And we really think about citizenship broadly defined as being about this fusion of power and character—being literate to power, understanding how power works on the one side, but also coupling that literacy with a grounding in moral and civic character; the values, norms, and ethics of being a prosocial member of a community.

The point of civic life is not necessarily to have unanimity, even if that were possible. It’s not to foster consensus around [the American] creed; it is to foster healthy engagement with that creed, a sense of responsibility for sustaining and living up to that creed, and then welcoming not only diversity but disagreement and argument about what that creed calls us to do. So a really short version of saying that is: To be an American is fundamentally to be in creative, joyful, productive argument about what it means to be an American.

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ZJ: In your book Become America , you talk about meeting Glenn Beck, a longtime conservative radio talk show host (although he’s not so comfortable with the current president in some ways). For someone who has more left-of-center political beliefs, what was that experience like?



EL: I noticed a year or two ago that Glenn Beck was taking a very public pivot . That he was taking steps in major media outlets to take responsibility for his part over the many years in how toxic and poisonous our political culture had become.

I went down [to Beck’s studio outside Dallas, Texas] for a conversation that was not on air, not for the cameras or the microphones—it was just for us to get to know each other. And we did. We started talking about our common interests in American political tradition. We started arguing about the Federalist Papers. We started talking about the Progressive Era. We started getting to things that were not just about politics. We talked about the relationship each of us had with our father. My dad died young when I was in only my early 20s. [Beck] had a very fraught relationship with his father that compelled him to go into media to find some voice and identity. We started bonding at a human level just about different life experiences.

Then he invited me back to continue that conversation but to have it on air. So that we could actually show his base and his viewers what it would look like and what it would sound like to engage in this way. And we did that. So we just built this relationship that is not naive. It is not requiring that either of us abandon our actual policy beliefs, and still requires us to challenge each other and to be disappointed with one another when either one of us (or our side) says or does things that either one finds really objectionable or challenging. But we laid down this foundation of humanity. And I think that is the necessary precursor for any sustained renewal of trust in humanity and in civic life.

ZJ: Based on your experience with Beck and others, how do you approach someone who seems to be totally on the other side of the universe from you in terms of what they believe?


EL: I think it’s really important to start those conversations not by diving in first to the policy or the political issues that you’re going to debate, but with some human universals. Who were your greatest mentors? Who shaped you? What were your formative experiences? How did your values or worldview get developed, whether by positive experiences or by trauma? By challenge or by trial? How did you come to be interested in what you’re interested in?

These kinds of human questions allow us to find chords of connection. I don’t care who the person is; they can be someone who is an outright bigot who thinks that you shouldn’t even get to be here. But if you somehow got into a room and were both answering those kinds of questions, you would find some chord of connection in your experience.

What we need in American civic life is not necessarily fewer arguments. We just need less stupid ones. I don’t mean to be glib. . . . I mean more emotionally intelligent, more historically literate, more honest about power and power differentials, and more grown-up. Being able to do that requires that you not only start with the universal human dimensions and questions but that you also go into these conversations letting down your guard. It’s really hard to change someone else’s mind if you’re not willing to have your own mind changed.

The corollary is if you enter into these encounters not to win but just to understand, that makes all the difference. That’s the big message that we have in our Better Arguments project at the Aspen Institute, which is if you take winning off the table, a lot of things become possible. If you engage a person not to persuade them that you’re right, they’re wrong, that you’re smart and they’re dumb, but just to say, “I want to understand you better. I want to understand how you come to this view that I find so abhorrent. How you see the world the way you do which is so different than my own. I’m not here to judge you or to make you feel defensive or bad about yourself. And hopefully you can understand me.” That’s hard enough, but I think that’s an approach that we found can help, both in our work at Citizen University and . . . the Better Arguments project.

ZJ: What is something that gives you hope about the future of civic life in America? What are the silver linings to the conflicts we’re having right now?



EL: I actually am hopeful about our chances for civic and democratic renewal right now for a couple of reasons.

“The question “Who is us?,” which has always been a central American question, has never been more salient than it is today”

One, everywhere I go, in the work that we do at Citizen University—far from the circus and the shouting matches of national politics in D.C.—I see people in communities all around the United States who are showing up, who are engaging across lines of difference, who are just saying, “However we got here, my job now is to help start fixing things.” They are part of the renewal (in a very vocal way) of trust, of capacity, of inclusion. That’s in small towns, in big cities, in rural areas, in urban areas, it’s red places, blue places. Our work brings me into contact with people all across the United States who are part of that body of renewal. I think that’s a story that’s under-told in the national media.

The second thing that gives me hope is recognizing that the pain and the anguish and the anger that we feel in our politics are birthing pains; we are birthing a new America right now. We are trying to do something that hasn’t yet been done in human history—which is create a mass, multicultural, democratic republic. Different societies along the way have done two or even three of those. But to do a mass multicultural democratic republic—to be at a mass scale of 320 million people, to have this diversity of cultures and traditions within that society, to be a democratic culture (which means not just run by elites, not just having the game rigged by the one percent), and then to be a republic (which means to govern ourselves, to treat ourselves as citizens responsible for the health of the body politic)—no one’s ever tried to do all four of these things at once.

We’re trying. And it’s hard. And it’s painful. And what seems like a lot of cacophony and hate and anger—I actually see the positive side of it. These are a lot of voices that for most of American history were never in the public square. Voices of people of color, voices of angry left-behind disenfranchised white people, voices of Appalachia, the voice of immigrants and refugees.

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So much of American public life and politics was driven by a very narrow band of voices of white men of relative privilege who got to shape the discourse. That’s no longer the case. So of course we’re going to have more noise and arguments and pain. And what makes me hopeful is we are going to find a way through this by cultivating not just the habit of getting your voice heard, but to come back full circle to civic religion: habits of the heart. The capacity for empathy; capacity for arguing better; capacity for re-humanizing and checking your own worst instincts to dehumanize.

In our work at Citizen University, we’re spending all day long with people trying to cultivate these capacities, and that gives me some hope. We don’t need 320 million Americans to be this way. We just need a critical mass—a critical mass to start shifting norms, to start to embody what it looks like to build a 21st-century beloved community. And once we get that critical mass in community after community, city by city, a tipping point will arise.

About the Author

Zaid Jilani

Zaid Jilani is Greater Good 's Bridging Differences Writing Fellow. A journalist originally from Atlanta, he has worked as a reporter for The Intercept and as a reporter-blogger for ThinkProgress, United Republic, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Alternet .

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• > Active Citizenship: An Empirical Investigation

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Active citizenship: an empirical investigation.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2011

This paper reports on a study of what active citizenship means from the perspective of citizens who are active within third sector organisations. It is based on an empirical study involving 1,610 respondents across 11 towns in six countries. The study explored how active citizenship is manifested, by gathering data on attitudes towards social changes and the forms and practices of active citizenship. There are two major, and apparently contradictory themes emerging in the data. The first theme provides a portrait of active engagement, proactively, and sometimes oppositionally working for a better world. On the other hand, citizens by and large avoid active oppositional engagement in the political process. They prefer to work collaboratively with government and to work at the local level. This second theme can be understood as social maintenance, support for existing structures that facilitates community cohesion, while providing relief for the disadvantaged, often with a conservative charity or welfare orientation. Following the work of Touraine, the study revealed how citizens act at the local rather than the national level, and focus on concrete issues and interpersonal relations rather than political action aimed at wider policy change. While this form of citizenship action can reflect a conservative form of maintenance, it is equally a creative new form of association and mutual support.

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• Volume 11, Issue 1
• Jenny Onyx (a1) , Sue Kenny (a2) and Kevin Brown (a2)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746411000406

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COMPASS Manual for Human Rights Education with Young people

Citizenship and participation.

• What is citizenship?

Traditions and approaches to citizenship vary throughout history and across the world according to different countries, histories, societies, cultures and ideologies, resulting in many different understandings of the concept of citizenship.

It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen. Aristotle

The origin of citizenship can be traced back to Ancient Greece, when "citizens" were those who had a legal right to participate in the affairs of the state. However, by no means was everyone a citizen: slaves, peasants, women or resident foreigners were mere subjects. For those who did have the privileged status of being citizens, the idea of "civic virtue" or being a "good" citizen was an important part of the concept, since participation was not considered only a right but also, and first of all, a duty. A citizen who did not meet his responsibilities was considered socially disruptive.

Citizenship is a complex and multi-dimensional reality which needs to be set in its political and historical context… . Democratic citizenship, specifically, refers to the active participation by individuals in the system of rights and responsibilities which is the lot of citizens in democratic societies. Consultation Meeting for the Education for Democratic Citizenship Programme of the Council of Europe, 1996

This concept of citizenship is reflected in today's most common understanding of citizenship as well, which relates to a legal relationship between the individual and the state. Most people in the world are legal citizens of one or another nation state, and this entitles them to certain privileges or rights. Being a citizen also imposes certain duties in terms of what the state expects from individuals under its jurisdiction. Thus, citizens fulfil certain obligations to their state and in return they may expect protection of their vital interests.

However, the concept of citizenship has far more layers of meaning than legal citizenship. Nowadays "citizenship" is much more than a legal construction and relates – amongst other things – to one's personal sense of belonging, for instance the sense of belonging to a community which you can shape and influence directly.

Such a community can be defined through a variety of elements, for example a shared moral code, an identical set of rights and obligations, loyalty to a commonly owned civilisation, or a sense of identity. In the geographical sense, "community" is usually defined at two main levels, differentiating between the local community, in which the person lives, and the state, to which the person belongs.

In the relationship between the individual and society we can distinguish four dimensions which correlate with the four subsystems which one may recognise in a society, and which are essential for its existence: the political / legal dimension, the social dimension, the cultural dimension and the economic dimension. 1

The social dimension of citizenship has to do with the behaviour between individuals in a society and requires some measure of loyalty and solidarity. Social skills and the knowledge of social relations in society are necessary for the development of this dimension.

The cultural dimension of citizenship refers to the consciousness of a common cultural heritage. This cultural dimension should be developed through the knowledge of cultural heritage, and of history and basic skills (language competence, reading and writing).

These four dimensions of citizenship are attained through socialisation processes which take place at school, in families, civic organisations, political parties, as well as through associations, mass media, the neighbourhood and peer groups. As with the four legs of a chair, each person should be able to exercise the four dimensions in a balanced and equal manner, otherwise full citizenship will be unbalanced.

Question: What senses of belonging do you recognise in yourself?

When we are part of a community, we can influence it, participate in its development and contribute to its well-being. Therefore, citizenship is also understood as a practice – the practice of playing an active role in our society. Such participation might be within our neighbourhood, in a formal or informal social group, in our country, or in the whole world. The notion of active citizenship implies working towards the betterment of one's community through participation to improve life for all members of the community. Democratic citizenship is a closely related concept, which emphasises the belief that citizenship should be based on democratic principles and values such as pluralism, respect for human dignity and the rule of law.

Question: Would you consider yourself an active citizen?

• Citizenship, participation and human rights

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. UDHR, article 27

Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to a nationality, a right to change one's nationality, and the right not to be deprived of nationality. The right to a nationality is confirmed in many other international instruments, including the European Convention on Nationality of the Council of Europe (1997). In the context of international norms, "nationality" and "citizenship" are usually used synonymously. This is true also for the Convention as underlined in its Explanatory Report 4 : nationality "…refers to a specific legal relationship between an individual and a State which is recognised by that State. …with regard to the effects of the Convention, the terms "nationality" and "citizenship" are synonymous".

The right to a nationality is extremely important because of its implications for the daily lives of individuals in every country. Being a recognised citizen of a country has many legal benefits, which may include – depending on the country – the rights to vote, to hold public office, to social security, to health services, to public education, to permanent residency, to own land, or to engage in employment, amongst others. Although each country can determine who its nationals and citizens are, and what rights and obligations they have, international human rights instruments pose some limitations on state sovereignty over citizenship regulation. Specifically, the universal human rights principle of non-discrimination and the principle that statelessness should be avoided constrain state discretion on citizenship.

Participation, in political and cultural life, is a fundamental human right recognised in a number of international human rights treaties, starting with Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides for the right to participate in government and free elections, the right to participate in the cultural life of the community, the right to peaceful assembly and association, and the right to join trade unions. Participation is also a core principle of human rights and is also a condition for effective democratic citizenship for all people.

Participation is one of the guiding principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This treaty says that children (all people below the age of eighteen years) have the right to have their voice heard when adults are making decisions that affect them, and their views should be given due weight in accordance with the child's age and maturity. They have the right to express themselves freely and to receive and share information. The Convention recognises the potential of children to influence decision making relevant to them, to share views and, thus, to participate as citizens and actors of change.

Without the full spectrum of human rights, participation becomes difficult if not impossible to access. Poor health, low levels of education, restrictions on freedom of expression, poverty, and so on, all impact on our ability to take part in the processes and structures which affect us and our rights. Equally, without participation, many human rights are difficult to access. It is participation through which we can build a society based on human rights, develop social cohesion, make our voice heard to influence decision makers, achieve change, and eventually be the subject and not the object of our own lives.

Question: What forms of involvement or participation, other than voting in elections, are possible for the ordinary citizen?

• Exercising citizenship

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. UDHR, article 21

Much discussion concerning citizenship is focused on the problem of increasing citizens' involvement and participation in the processes of democratic society. It is being increasingly realised that periodic voting by citizens is insufficient, either in terms of making those who govern in the interim period fully accountable or in promoting feelings of empowerment among ordinary citizens. Furthermore, low voting turnouts indicate levels of political apathy among the population, which seriously undermines the effective functioning of democracy.

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. UDHR, article 20

A second set of issues concerns the question of those individuals who do not, for one reason or another, receive the full benefits of citizenship. One aspect of this is a result of continuing patterns of discrimination within societies: minority groups may very often have formal citizenship of the country in which they are living but may still be prevented from full participation in that society.

A second aspect of the problem is a consequence of increasing globalisation, including new patterns of work and migration, which leads to a significant number of people throughout the world being resident abroad but unable to apply for formal citizenship. Such people may include immigrant workers, refugees, temporary residents or even those who have decided to set up permanent residence in another country.

Question: Should immigrant workers be entitled to some of the benefits of citizenship, if not to formal citizenship?

An estimated 70,000–80,000 Roma are stateless across 5 Europe.

A third aspect is the issue of statelessness. Although the right to a nationality is a human right guaranteed by international human rights law, there are millions of people worldwide who are not nationals of any country. The UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, estimates that there were 12 million stateless people at the end of 2010. Statelessness is often the result of the break-up of countries such as the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia, but stateless people may also include displaced persons, expelled migrants, and those whose birth has not been registered with the authorities.

The idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: noone is against it in principle because it is good for you. 6 Sherry R. Arnstein

• Forms of participation

Participation of the citizens in their government is thought to be the cornerstone of democracy, and it can take place through different mechanisms and forms, and at various levels. Several models of participation have been developed, the earliest and probably the most well-known being Sherry Arnstein's ladder of participation (1969).

Arnstein identified eight levels of participation, each corresponding to one rung of the ladder, with little or no citizen participation at one end to a fully citizen-led form at the other. The higher you are on the ladder, the more power you have in determining the outcome. The bottom two rungs – manipulation and therapy – are not participative and should be avoided. The next three up – informing, consultation and placation – are tokenistic; they allow citizens to have a voice and be heard, but their views may not be properly considered by those in power. The final three steps – partnership, delegated power and citizen control – constitute real citizen power and the fullest form of citizen participation.

Rights versus reality Roma communities are routinely discriminated against in many parts of Europe. In some cases, Roma are denied citizenship of the countries in which they live. When Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s, some Roma were left without nationality because the successor states regarded them as belonging elsewhere, and implemented legislation that denied them citizenship. Furthermore, Roma parents who are stateless or have migrated to another country often fail to have their children registered, even though such children are entitled to citizenship under international law. As a consequence, such children cannot access some of their fundamental rights such as health care or education. Other communities with itinerant lifestyles, for example the Travellers in Britain, may face similar problems. Even when Roma are formally recognised as citizens they may be excluded from fully participating in their communities and treated in practice like second-class citizens, due to widespread discrimination and prejudice.

States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly. Convention on the Rights of the Child

Arnstein's model was further developed by Roger Hart and adapted to the issue of children and youth participation. Hart stated that participation is a fundamental right of citizenship 7 , because this is the way to learn what being a citizen means and how to be one. Youth participation can also be seen as a form of a youth-adult partnership. There are different degrees to which youth can be involved or take over the responsibility, depending on the local situation, resources, needs and level of experience. Hart's ladder of participation illustrates different degrees of involvement of children and young people in projects, organisations or communities. These are the eight levels of youth involvement:

The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens. Baha'ullah

Rung 8: Shared decision making Projects or ideas are initiated by young people, who invite the adults to take part in the decision-making process as partners.

Rung 7: Young-people led and initiated Projects or ideas are initiated and directed by young people; the adults might be invited to provide necessary support, but a project can be carried out without their intervention.

Rung 6: Adult initiated, shared decisions with young people Projects are initiated by adults but young people are invited to share the decision-making power and responsibilities as equal partners.

Rung 5: Young people consulted and informed Projects are initiated and run by adults, but young people provide advice and suggestions and are informed as to how these suggestions contribute to the final decisions or results.

Rung 4: Young people assigned but informed Projects are initiated and run by adults; young people are invited to take some specific roles or tasks within the project, but they are aware of what influence they have in reality.

Participation means to be involved, to have tasks and to share and take over responsibility. It means to have access and to be included. Peter Lauritzen 3

Rung 3: Tokenism Young people are given some roles within projects but they have no real influence on any decisions. There is a false appearance created (on purpose or unintentionally) that young people participate, when in fact they do not have any choice about what is being done and how.

Rung 2: Decoration Young people are needed in the project to represent youth as an underprivileged group. They have no meaningful role (except from being present) and, as with decorations, they are put in a visible position within a project or organisation, so that they can be easy for outsiders to spot.

There are many ways in which young people play an active role as citizens of their societies. In 2011, a survey of young people aged between 15 and 30 living in EU member states was conducted to find out how young EU citizens are participating in society. It focused on their participation in organisations (e.g. sports clubs, voluntary organisations), political elections, voluntary activities and projects fostering co-operation with young people in other countries.Rung 1: Manipulation Young people are invited to take part in the project, but they have no real influence on decisions and the outcomes. In fact, their presence is used to achieve some other goals, such as winning local elections, creating a better picture of an institution or securing some extra funds from institutions supporting youth participation.

The findings included the following:

• Across all countries, a minority of young people said they had been involved in activities aimed at fostering co-operation with young people from other countries; this ranged from 4% in Italy to 16% in Austria.
• About a quarter of young adults had been involved in an organised voluntary activity in 2010. The highest rates were observed in Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands (36%-40%).
• Among young people who were old enough to vote, roughly 8 in 10 said that they had voted in a political election at the local, regional, national or EU level in the previous three years. This ranged from 67% in Luxembourg to 93% in Belgium (where voting is compulsory).
• Roughly a third of young people in the EU had been active in a sports club in 2010. About a sixth had been involved in a youth organisation and one in seven had participated in a cultural organisation's activities. 8

Question: How can you make your voice heard in your youth group, organisation or school?

• Youth participation in the Council of Europe

The aim of the Council of Europe's youth policy is to provide young people -  girls and boys, young women and young men -  with equal opportunities and experience which enable them to develop the knowledge, skills and competencies to play a full part in all aspects of society. 9

The Council of Europe plays a major role in supporting and encouraging participation and active citizenship. Participation is central to the Council's youth policy in various ways:

Participation and active citizenship is about having the right, the means, the space and the opportunity and, where necessary, the support to participate in and influence decisions and engage in actions and activities so as to contribute to building a better society. Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life

• Youth policies should promote the participation of young people in the various spheres of society, especially those that are most directly relevant to them. This includes support for youth organisations, setting youth platforms or consultative bodies, recognising the role of students' councils and students' unions in the management of schools, and so on.
• Youth policies should be developed, implemented and evaluated with young people, namely through ways that take into account the priorities, perspectives and interests of young people and involve them in the process. This may be done through youth councils and fora (national, regional or local) or/and through other ways of consulting young people, including forms of e-participation.
• Youth policies and programmes should encourage participant-centred approaches to learning and action, such as in human rights education, through which participants exert and learn participation and citizenship.

The European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life 11 (produced in 1992 and revised in 2003) is an international policy document approved by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. The Charter consists of three parts relating to different aspects of youth participation at a local level. The first provides local and regional authorities with guidelines on how to conduct policies affecting young people in a number of areas. The second part provides the tools for furthering the participation of young people. Finally, the third section provides advice on how to provide institutional conditions for the participation of young people.

Have your Say! is the Council of Europe's Manual on the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life 12 , available online in 11 languages.

The charter outlines 14 areas in which young people should be involved. They are the following: 1. sport, leisure and associative life 2. work and employment 3. housing and transport 4. education and training 5. mobility and intercultural exchanges 6. health 7. equality for women and men 8. young people in rural areas 9. access to culture 10. sustainable development and environment 11. violence and crime 12. anti-discrimination 13. love and sexuality 14. access to rights and law.

In a unique manner to implement youth participation in youth policy, the Council of Europe has introduced a co-management system into its youth sector, where representatives of European non-governmental youth organisations and government officials work together to develop priorities for and make recommendations concerning youth. This co-management system consists of three bodies: the European Steering Committee for Youth , the Advisory Council on Youth and the Joint Council on Youth . The Advisory Council is made up of 30 representatives from youth NGOs and networks, who provide opinions and input on all youth sector activities. It has the task of for¬ mulating opinions and proposals on any question concerning youth, within the scope of the Council of Europe. The European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) consists of representatives of ministries and organisations responsible for youth matters from the states parties to the European Cultural Convention. It encourages closer co-operation between governments on youth issues and provides a forum for comparing national youth policies, exchanging best practices and drafting standard texts. The CDEJ also organises the Conferences of European Ministers with responsibility for youth matters and drafts youth policy laws and regulations in member states. The Joint Council on Youth brings the CDEJ and the Advisory Council together in a co-decision body, which establishes the youth sector's priorities, objectives and budgets.

The European Youth Forum The European Youth Forum is an independent, democratic, youth-led platform, representing over 90 national youth councils and international youth organisations from across Europe. The Youth Forum works to em-power young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations. 13

1 These four dimensions of Citizenship were developed by Ruud Veldhuis, in "Education for Democratic Citizenship: Dimensions of Citizenship, Core Competencies, Variables and International Activities", Strasbourg, Council of Europe, 1997, document DECS/CIT (97) 23, quoted here from T-Kit 7 – Under Construction, T-Kit on European Citizenship, Council of Europe and European Commission, Strasbourg, 2003 2  T-Kit 7 – Under Construction, T-Kit on European Citizenship, Council of Europe and European Commission, Strasbourg, 2003 3 Peter Lauritzen, keynote speech on participation presented at the training course on the development of and implementation of participation projects at local and regional level, European Youth Centre, June 2006 4 Explanatory Report to the European Convention on Nationality, Article 2, para. 23: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/reports/html/166.htm#FN2 5 Megan Rowling quoting Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights in: "Rights Chief urges Europe to make stateless Roma citizens", AlertNet 23 August 2011: www.trust.org/alertnet/news/interview-eu-governments-should-give-stateless-roma-citizenship-commissioner 6 Sherry R. Arnstein, "A Ladder of Citizen Participation", JAIP, Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1969, p 216. 7 Roger Hart, Children's Participation: from Tokenism to Citizenship, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, 1992 8 "Youth on the Move", Analytical Report, European Commission, May 2011 http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_319a_en.pdf 9 Resolution of the Committee of Ministers (2008)23 on the youth policy of the Council of Europe 10 Have Your Say!, Manual on the revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life, Council of Europe Publishing, 2008 11 The Charter is available here: www.salto-youth.net/downloads/4-17-1510/Revised%20European%20Charter%20on%20the%20Participation%20of%20YP.pdf 12 www.coe.int/t/dg4/youth/Source/Coe_youth/Participation/Have_your_say_en.pdf 13 Learn more on the European Youth Forum website: www.youthforum.org

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• 18 March First Parliamentary election with universal suffrage in Europe (1917)
• 5 May Europe Day (Council of Europe)
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• 19 September Suffrage day
• Week including 15 October European Local Democracy Week
• 5 December International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
• 10 December Human Rights Day

Active Citizenship

By Lawrence C. Walters (BA ’81) in the Summer 2014 Issue

By Lawrence C. Walters (BA ’81)

The survival of a free society depends upon its citizens.

T here are at least two ways to think about citizenship. The first sees citizens as having certain rights that should be protected by law. Those who hold this view are concerned mostly with defending individual freedoms. There is no question that rights are an important aspect of citizenship. All too often, however, this approach to citizenship descends into a type of consumerism: citizens see themselves as no more than customers of government.

Consumer citizenship is something we assert only occasionally. We exercise our right to vote every year or two, maybe—when we go to the polls, or “the store,” to choose what we want from a list. If we don’t like what is on the list, we may not even go to the store. If there is a problem in the community, we expect the government to deal with it. Most of the time, though, we just want to be left alone.

The second vision of citizenship, captured well by Peter Block, is more demanding. “A citizen is one who is willing to be accountable for and committed to the well-being of the whole,” he said. “That whole can be a city block, a community, a nation, the earth. A citizen is one who produces the future, someone who does not wait, beg, or dream for the future.” 1

Active citizens participate in collective reasoning—joining with others to identify issues, giving and receiving information, and taking counsel together. In this process citizens listen to others with a desire to understand their views.

Inevitably, such deliberative processes identify conflicting points of view. Serious deliberation with people we don’t agree with can be slow and frustrating—especially if we want the Lord’s help, because then we have to get rid of all our unkind thoughts so that the Spirit can be unrestrained. My experience suggests that we make much more progress when we put aside the idea that people who don’t agree with us are ignorant of the facts, stupid, or evil and focus instead on what we have in common. Active citizens must strive to synthesize and reconcile conflicting views, values, and priorities. This is not easy to do.

One of the best examples of this type of deliberative process is the con­vention that produced the U.S. Constitution. The delegates came with strong and conflicting personal and regional interests. What they shared was a commitment to some very basic principles of freedom and governance. It took months of collaboration and, at times, contentious discussion, but the result has blessed the lives of millions.

When Abraham Lincoln dedicated the cemetery at Gettysburg, he spoke of “the great task remaining before us”—that of preserving a free and democratic government. This task is not finished, and it never will be. It will always require active citizens to maintain a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” 2

This essay is adapted from a devotional address by Lawrence C. Walters , a professor in the BYU Romney Institute of Public Management, on April 1, 2014. The full text is available at speeches.byu.edu .

1. Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008), p. 63.

2. Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863.

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7 Active Citizenship: Multiculturalism and Mutual Understanding

• Published: September 2010
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This chapter examines the meaning of multiculturalism and its bearing on two related areas of citizenship policy: citizenship education in schools and naturalisation policy. It explores the idea of political citizenship from a multicultural standpoint and argues that the ‘glue’ holding together the three strands of citizenship education — political literacy, social and moral responsibility, and community involvement — is public participation based on appropriate learned knowledge and skills. It also contends that active participation requires citizens not simply to be secure in their personal identities but for these to be related to, and reflected in, the larger community. Moreover, it considers the proposal that ‘identity and diversity: living together in the United Kingdom’ be added as a fourth strand to the ‘key concepts’ in the citizenship curriculum alongside ‘democracy and justice’, ‘rights and responsibilities’ and ‘critical thinking’.

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Global Citizen — A Global Citizen and the Benefits of International Citizenship

A Global Citizen and The Benefits of International Citizenship

• Categories: Citizenship Global Citizen Welfare

About this sample

Words: 1313 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 1313 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, being a global citizen, the benefits of global citizenship.

• Global Identity: At its core, being a global citizen means identifying first and foremost as a member of the global community. While individuals may have national or cultural affiliations, global citizens recognize that these are just one layer of their identity. They see themselves as part of a larger human family, connected by shared challenges and opportunities.
• Responsibility for the World: Global citizens understand that they have a responsibility not only to their immediate communities but also to the world at large. They acknowledge that their actions and choices can impact people and ecosystems far beyond their borders. This heightened sense of responsibility compels them to engage in efforts to address global issues such as poverty, climate change, and social injustice.
• Cultural Competence: Being a global citizen entails a deep appreciation for cultural diversity. Global citizens are curious about other cultures, eager to learn from them, and respectful of differences. They recognize that cultural diversity enriches our global tapestry and contributes to the richness of human experience.
• Advocacy for Justice: Global citizens are advocates for justice and equality. They recognize that the benefits of globalization should be shared equitably, and they actively work to dismantle systems of oppression and discrimination. Whether it's advocating for gender equality, racial justice, or economic fairness, global citizens champion causes that promote a more just world.
• Environmental Stewardship: Environmental sustainability is a fundamental aspect of global citizenship. Global citizens understand the interconnectedness of environmental issues and the importance of preserving our planet for future generations. They take actions to reduce their ecological footprint and advocate for policies that promote sustainability.
• Engagement and Action: Global citizenship is not a passive state; it requires active engagement and action. Global citizens participate in initiatives, organizations, and movements that address global challenges. They use their voices and resources to effect positive change on a local, national, and global scale.
• Cross-Cultural Communication: Effective communication across cultural boundaries is a key skill of global citizens. They value open dialogue, empathy, and active listening as tools for resolving conflicts, fostering understanding, and building bridges between people from diverse backgrounds.

Building a Global Community

Mobilizing for global change, creating a peaceful, prosperous, and interconnected world.

• Evans, H. (TEDxSydney). (2013). What does it mean to be a citizen of the world? TEDxSydney. https://www.ted.com/tedx
• Sen, A. (2006). Identity and Violence : The Illusion of Destiny. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Giddens, A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford University Press.
• Reysen, S., & Katzarska-Miller, I. (2013). A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Psychology, 48(5), 858-870.
• Schattle, H. (2008). Global citizenship in theory and practice. In N. J. McLaughlin & D. R. Dean (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of International Relations (pp. 591-606). Sage Publications.
• Global Citizen. (n.d.). About us. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/about/
• World Economic Forum. (2021). Global citizenship and the future of education: 7 key takeaways. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/education-global-citizenship-future-skills/

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Home / Essay Samples / Sociology / Citizenship / Active Citizenship in Policing: An Essential Duty

Active Citizenship in Policing: An Essential Duty

• Category: Sociology , Government
• Topic: Citizenship , Community , Community Policing

Pages: 3 (1351 words)

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